At UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s 2023 AI Safety Summit, the final communique noted that governments needed to keep in mind an overriding commitment to make their AI regulatory and policy decisions “for good and for all”.
It’s not a bad mantra.
And it stands as a powerful reminder of the wider mission of good government and public innovation in these volatile and occasionally treacherous times.
It’s the measure that all good public policy and innovation should be tested against and it’s the theme for this year’s BiiG Conference in Brisbane on May 30.
BiiG has turned itself into one of the country’s leading public innovation annual events, consistently marrying new thinking and bold ideas with intensely practical “how to” insights that invite not just listening and talking but doing as well.
Full festival
This year’s event, as it did last year, anchors a festival of innovation events across three days.
There’s the Public Sector Climate Forum on Day 1 (May 28) followed by a Public Sector Innovation Showcase the same day.
On Day 2, Queensland chief customer and digital officer Chris McLaren hosts the Create Connect Summit (digital, customer, cyber, AI) with a keynote contribution from global digital and design public innovation leader Dom Campbell.
The main BiiG Conference will be held on Day 3 (May 30).
This is what you can expect from BiiG 2024:
- Queensland chief entrepreneur Julia Spicer OAM (who is co-hosting with long-time BiiG champion and collaborator Martin Stewart-Weeks) will open and set the scene before welcoming senior Queensland government leaders to officially open proceedings.
- We then head to the future with UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies’ Professor Sohail Inayatullah. Sohail, who spoke at BiiG’s first conference 20 years ago, will frame a provocation — the “end of worlds” — to speculate about possible futures for the Queensland public sector.
- Premier’s Department director-general Mike Kaiser and Queensland public sector commissioner David Mackie will reflect on “now” and “next” for the public service, picking up the conference theme of “people, performance and pride” in the context of the new strategy “Even Better Public Sector for Queensland“. They’ll be joined by Deidre Mulkerin, director-general of the Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services, for an “on the couch” conversation.
- There’ll be a lively session on cultural competency from Jenae Tien and building digital literacy with Scott Cass-Dunbar, as well as some great Queensland entrepreneurial stories about the journey from vision to impact.
- In between, renowned global innovation and systems learning thinker and practitioner Charlie Leadbeater will wonder “Where in the world are we and where do we think we are going?” Charlie reckons by far the most impressive people he’s met are innovative practitioners — head teachers, police officers, doctors — who are trying to turn bold ideas into practical action for public good. He’s learned that small can be big when ideas reshape entire systems; the most powerful ideas are unusual combinations, and those combinations usually get made by curious people working in what are often dismissed as peripheral niches on the edges of larger systems. That is where ideas that will change the world will first take root.
- The afternoon sessions include a conversation with new executive director of the Australian Centre for Evaluation Eleanor Williams, followed by a final reflection on our conference theme, “for good and for all” with QUT deputy vice chancellor (Indigenous) Angela Barney-Leitch, Disability Network director Peter Tully and Brian Wyborn from First Australians Capital, to name a few.
- The day will wrap up with an engaging and interactive keynote on mindset and high performance from a leading authority on mental health and founder of EQ Minds, Chelsea Pottenger.
Public sector employees from Queensland, and indeed all Australian states and territories, are welcome to join us!
All the details can be found on the festival website.
The Mandarin is the media partner for the event, which is held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 28 to May 30. Ticket options include the full festival or single events. For more details, visit the event website or contact event manager Rebecca Hannan, Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur, biig@dtis.qld.gov.au.
